N Korea’s ICBM delivers warning to Washington
NORTH Korea has launched its most successful intercontinental ballistic missile yet, with experts warning New York and Washington on the eastern seaboard of the US are now within striking range.
The ICBM was launched on a steep trajectory before crashing back to Earth 960km away in the Sea of Japan, 210km from the Japanese coast.
During its 53-minute flight the missile soared some 4500km into space – 10 times higher than the orbit of the International Space Station – South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
North Korea broadcast a special television announcement to declare its latest missile launch a success and claimed it was “capable of striking the whole mainland of the US”.
US President Donald Trump was briefed on the development while the missile was still in the air, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted.
Mr Trump warned the US would “take care of it” following the missile launch and said “it is a situation that we will handle”.
Defence analysts say this latest test demonstrates North Korea has the power and range of a fully functional ICBM.
David Wright, co-director and senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said it was significantly longer than North Korea’s previous long-range tests, which flew on lofted trajectories for 37 minutes.
Shea Cotton, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said this put Washington DC within range.
Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at MIT and an expert on nuclear proliferation and strategy, tweeted “It’s real folks”, indicating how successful the test really was.
South Korea said it was fired from an area north of the capital Pyongyang, and flew into the sea at 4.17am (AEST) yesterday.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command said it had determined while the missile was in flight that it did not pose a threat to North America, its territories or its allies, including Australia.
However, experts warn the test is cause for concern.
Prof Narang said the test set a record and the Democratic Republic of Korea wanted the US to know it was capable of hitting Washington DC.
“Hell of a way to break the testing pause. No rinky-dink stuff. The real thing,” he tweeted.
South Korea’s military said it had conducted a “precision strike” missile launch exercise about 4.23am (AEST) in response to the North’s “provocation”, Yonhap reported.
President Moon Jae-in convened a National Security Council meeting to discuss its next steps.